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NBA to start carding players?

High-school players like LeBron James, shown here in a playoff game Saturday, might be ineligible for the NBA draft under a new proposal.Ron Schwane/AP

NEW YORK - The director of the NBA players' union vehemently denied Tuesday having any kind of a handshake agreement with the league to set an age limit of 20 in the next collective bargaining agreement.

"There have been no deals struck between David (Stern) and myself, and there has been no discussion of an age limit between David and myself," union director Billy Hunter said Tuesday.

Stern and deputy commissioner Russ Granik of the NBA confirmed Hunter's assessment, noting that a proposed age limit hasn' t been up for discussion in two years.

The rumor is so prevalent, however, that Hunter felt compelled to publicly address the belief an age limit could be in place for the 2004 draft - a misconception that could lead to a larger-than-normal number of high school players and 17- and 18-year-old foreigners making themselves eligible for the 2003 NBA draft.

"There's definitely an assumption that there will be an age limit, but whether there's truth to it only the league and the union know," said agent Mark Cornstein, who represents 17-year-old Yugoslavian prospect Darko Milicic - a player often mentioned as a possible overall No. 2 selection behind high school senior LeBron James of Akron, Ohio.

Milicic was ineligible for the 2003 draft until Stern and Hunter reached agreement during All-Star weekend on a change in eligibility rules that will open up the draft to any foreign player who turns 18 prior to draft night.

That surprise announcement led to speculation the sides might reach a speedy agreement on an extension of the current collective bargaining agreement, which expires at the end of the 2003-04 season - unless the owners exercise an option by Dec. 1 to extend it for another year. A group of owners and players plan to meet in early May to open talks on an extension.

"I've heard different things from different people. One general manager thinks (an age limit) is coming, one doesn't," agent Mark Fleischer said.

Stern has been on record for two years as being in favor of an age limit, although he acknowledges there are valid arguments to be made in favor of, and in opposition to, an age limit.

"Our position on the matter remains the same. We think it would be good for business and socially responsible," he said.

Many of the league's best talents and most popular superstars, including Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Tracy McGrady, made the jump directly from high school to the pros. To their benefit and that of the league, they have thrived.

Stern, however, has always been equally concerned with the impressionable young players who are counseled into making the jump before they are ready, losing their collegiate eligibility in the process.

An age restriction would limit their choices until they are 20.

"We still believe that it would be the best thing for the sport as a whole, and for the NBA," Granik said, arguing that it is unfair for teams to try to judge players at such a young age when they are making draft decisions that will affect their franchises for years to come.

Hunter said the union remains philosophically opposed to an age limit, although he said everything will be open to negotiation when bargaining talks commence. Many agents have interpreted that to mean the union is prepared to give the owners an age limit in exchange for something.

"Of all the concessions the union could make, it' s probably the easiest for veterans to swallow because it will never affect them monetarily," Cornstein said.